A couple with a 34-year age difference is still married after eight years and say they have “never had an argument” and that their sex life is “better than ever.”
Vann Thornton, 64, of Atlanta, Georgia, met his wife, Courtney, 31, a photographer, when they were 56 and 22. They married in July 2016.
Vann, a retired teacher turned musician, said, “She’s my best friend.” In almost nine years of being together, we have never had an argument.
Courtney is the ‘grandmother’ of her four grandchildren and is only four years older than the youngest of them.
Vann also said his sex life is better than ever, but cautions against all couples with an age difference of 30 years who get married.
Courtney Thornton, then 25, married Vann Thornton, then 59, making him 34 years her senior (pictured at their wedding in July 2016).
Although the two are as in love as ever, Vann insisted that not everyone should consider getting married with such a big age difference at stake, and if they do, they should have a lot in common.
Vann also claims that the two never argue, and that the closest they’ve come to rowing are “tense” conversations.
Vann said: ‘We just get along. We sit here together all day, every day. She does her things, I do mine and we sit and talk.
‘That doesn’t mean we don’t get angry, but we’ve never had anything more than a tense argument.
‘We are better today than when we met. I love her more than when we slept together. I just made him breakfast. I’m lucky’.
Courtney added: “The fact that I have kids and grandkids doesn’t bother me at all. We’re a match made in heaven.”
The couple met when he was helping her find musicians for an event. They bonded over their love of music and similar interests, and their relationship blossomed.
Courtney became a stepsister at the age of 26 to Vann’s four grandchildren, now ages 20, 17, 15 and seven, and says they jokingly call her “Grandma.”
However, Vann says he would caution against marrying couples with a 30-year age difference.
“I don’t recommend it to anyone. You have to have something in common. I tell people that we didn’t go into this with the intention of falling in love and getting married.
After their marriage, Courtney automatically became a stepgrandmother at the age of 26 to Vann’s four grandchildren, who are now ages 20, 17, 15 and seven, and she says they jokingly call her “Grandma.”
Courtney plants a kiss on her husband Vann, who claims that sex doesn’t always get less exciting with age.
“I wasn’t looking for a 22-year-old and she wasn’t looking for a 56-year-old; we just clicked.” I’m much happier with her than without her.’
Vann and Courtney have the same music taste as Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Train and love watching the same TV shows, like The Office.
“We like a lot of the same things,” he said. “She grew up in a house that watched old TV shows from the ’60s that I grew up on, so if I reference an old TV show, she knows what I’m talking about.
‘I’m a Swiftie through and through. We love Reputation, we sing and dance in the living room.’
Vann also said his sex life is better than ever: “There’s a view that sexual desire decreases as you get older, but it doesn’t have to be that way,” he said.
Courtney decided she didn’t want to have children “in this economy” and Vann’s children from her first marriage, who are older than Courtney and in their 40s, “love her.”
“Vann’s four children completely accepted me as part of the family,” she said.
“I was 26 years younger than Vann’s oldest son, Billy, who is now 39, so I was surprised how well they accepted me.
‘The key to our relationship is that we always communicate with each other, avoiding arguments, and that we try to accept each other’s age.
“I don’t think an age gap relationship is for everyone, but it’s right for us and I’m filled with happiness to have finally found my forever soulmate.”
Vann added: ‘They love her. ‘(When Courtney met them) it was a little strange: my children are 40 years old. There was never an argument.’
Vann, a retired teacher turned musician, holds a saxophone while Courtney sits on his lap. The two met through her shared love of music, when he was helping her find musicians for an event.
They credit their strong bond to their shared interests, which include listening to artists Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Train, and watching The Office.
The two say that having good communication is also one of the key reasons why their relationship works so well.
Courtney’s father is a similar age to Vann, which Vann says he doesn’t mind.
Vann said, “You don’t have to love the same things, but you have to be able to see things from the other person’s perspective.”
‘Don’t be his dad. You have the barrier of a 30+ year span in time when she wasn’t alive and I was.
‘For me, it’s the same as if you say you’re gay, or celibate, or that you want to be a priest: there’s a stigma associated with it.
“Life is too short to worry about what other people think.”